I've talked about expensive cables before. It's something I keep needing to address. There's no way to sugar coat the truth here. They're a scam, plain and simple.

We've all been there before. You just bought a new HDTV and the salesman shows you a wall of $100+ HDMI cables. He claims they'll give you the best picture and sound on your new investment. There is a very small grain of truth to this. Better quality cables do produce better quality signals. These cables have a lower electrical resistance, which means signals pass through easier. However, this only comes into play for very long runs; 50 feet or more. It doesn't apply for the short runs in most home theatres. The $5 cable will look and sound as good as the $100 cable, guaranteed. Digital signals either work or they don't. There's no middle ground.

The same applies for analogue signals. There is a middle ground as the signal can deteriorate over the run. However, cheaper cables generally provide an identical audible signals as more expensive ones. Once again, higher end cables only make sense for very long runs. Far longer than what most home listeners would require. One particular company is selling a 1.5m run of 3.5mm male to male cables for $1,200. You can purchase 1000 foot spools of professional grade AV cable for this much. The same TV stations use for uncompressed HD camera streams. You're wasting your money on a brag item that's going to make no noticeable difference over the $5 radio shack cable. Please, just stop the madness.

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